can I afford life

I would suggest that you make sure you understand the specific academic performance required to even get into any PT school

Sports Medicine is Sexy and a lot of very qualified Students apply

You will basically need a 4.0 in your Undergrad to even be considered


Lots of people live on $50k a year. Depending on what part of the country you are in, it could be considered "comfortable" If you are a dual-income household
 
Dunno if this helps. These are Temple's requirements for Doctor of Physical Therapy. Grades are important, but IME a lot goes into a well rounded student. You will be judged also on your entrance interviews, any experience, and extracurricular activities.

a453a76dd2b72890dc116363bd41f65a.jpg


584574bf2a52387238a7de0a165a0cec.jpg
 
I was in the same boat as you were at that age. I was an athlete in high school also. As I was graduating my parents had the talk with me. They said they'd pay for school but I had to follow what they wanted.

I didn't want to go to the local school. I wanted to play baseball and one of the schools that recruited me was about 30 miles away. When I decided that I was gonna play ball at that school they took all my funds away and didn't pay for any of it. They even took my car away so I had to catch a ride with my friend who was also trying out for the team.

I had to get a part time job and ended up having to quit the team because I found out I was going to be a father. I got a job in a hospital and loved it. Found out what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. Become a nurse. I continued with nursing classes and switched my jobs to a CNA to get better bedside nursing skills.

i was in nursing school and working in a hospital. I kept plugging away but then slowly realized that something was wrong. I was always angry and moody. I would snap at my kids for no reason and get into fights with the wifey. I developed anxiety whenever I had to go into work. I've never had that in my life. I was always the strong athlete who just muscled through everything. I then realized that even though I would make good money as a nurse it wasn't worth my sanity and happiness.

I had spent many many years pursuing a degree in something that would make good money but not make me happy. I made a very bold decision and quit my nursing program and quit my job. Let me tell you one thing. I have haven't been this happy in a long time. I decided that since I had a lot of classes that transferred into physical therapy I would pursue that. I have always been an athlete and loved working with people. It was a perfect fit. I have decided to first get a degree for an assistant and then slowly get my therapist license.

Don't worry about having debt for getting your degree. Think of it as an investment. If I were to tell you that I have an investment that if you put in $100,000 over the course of 5 years and once that 5 years is over you would get $55,000 per year for the rest of your life would you do it?

Do what makes you happy. Don't do it for someone else! Do it for yourself. Everyone makes the mistake of trying to live up to someone else expectations.

They have community college programs that'll cost about $4,00 total for the PTA program. In 2-3 years you'll be done and be making $50,000 a year. So by the time your 20-21 years old you'll have a job that pays $50,000 a year. Slowly take your time taking all the classes you can at CC to get the pre reqs you need for the Therapist program. Once you get to the University level you will only have to pay about $30-$40,000 for the last years. Once you get into the program you'll have a great job and not to much debt. Even if you work part time you'll still be making decent money while your in the program. Once your done you'll be making over $100,000 a year easily.

Dr. Pain is a PT so he can give you great advice on the program.
Don't worry to much about the debt. That can be payed off. Worry about what'll make you happy.

As for your parents they'll get over it. They won't disown you because you got a degree in something that makes a lot of money and makes you happy. My parents were the same way but they got over it when I told them they didn't have to much choice in it because I was paying for it myself. If they weren't helping me, then they were holding me back. They'll love you no matter what as long as you finish school.
 
Asianisafish, you have a lot of good recommendations from others. The local community college will save you a lot of money in the long run. The most important thing to do is cash flow your school and dont obtain school loans because that will haunt you for many years if you go the medical field route. One of the hidden secrets for many colleges is if you work in the college, you get a free or reduced tuition. When i worked at univ. of miami, I was able to take 2 courses per semester for free. Most colleges offer perks like that. The most important thing as someone previously mentioned is choose something you love to do!
I wish I had the knowledge I obtained from the Dave Ramsey books and podcast. He is a wealth of information and his system has helped millions. Good luck with your choice and many here are always willing to help.
 
Graduate community college & enter a 4 yr college, & finish in 2 yrs. Your CC credits, transfer to...

Thank You
 
Jr College is a Smart way to go money wise. 4 year at a University leaves people in massive debit. 2 years of each is much cheaper.

You will also get just as good an education from a 4 year State College vs a private collage. The only difference is prestige.

Here in California, we have a Cal State System and a UC System. The price is 3 times higher to go to a place like UCLA and UCLA compared to Cal State University Northridge or San Diego State University.

.1% of jobs may not be as obtainable because you went a less prestigious school.
 
Just an example, my dad says he's seen a lot of Dr. Engineers and Master Engineers who have no idea how to turn a wrench and would rather hire somebody with "less" school and more life.

But take what I say with a grain of salt because I'm maybe a couple years older than you. There's still a lot of decisions that my parents make sure I do and know why I do.

The majority of the people here have been through it and can give you better long term advice.
 
Thank you everyone so much for the advice. It really means so much to me. I come from a decent highschool. Majority of the students are low income and the behavior is not the best here. Elgin Illinois to be excat. I love this town but I want to pursue physical therapy. I kind of lazied my way through highschool and I'm not sure if I'm mature enough for a 4 year university. I want to become a physical therapist in the end but I'm scared by the school and loans. I have also looked a little into the ROTC as a way to help pay for college, in return I would give a few years into military service. Has anyone have advice on that? ECC has a PTA program for 2 years as my anatomy teachers daughter went there and got a PTA from tECC and says it's a great community college. Both medical science teachers at my school also went to ECC so it can't be that bad. They tell me it's great option for students like me who didn't do the greatest in highschool but want to further their education.
 
My Asian stepson listened to me and went to community college while he cut grass 50hrs a week to pay for classes.The first classes were at night only. Next he got released from his test with me and I got him a job at the local supermarket bakery for better flexibility of study and class hours. After graduation of community college he transferred his studies to a Bachelor Degree, then a Master Degree at FIU which is a state school in Florida.The master was about $34,000.00 that was paid by the bakery job. He now will enjoy his life at PWC doing financial work. His Asian mom wanted him to be a doctor, lawyer, dentist...... but he listened to me and did what he was good at. Now mom is happy and he has zero debt and should be off to a good start. While he was in school she did not allow anything but work and school.......but the bad stepdad told him to get a girlfriend when he was 26 and now he is married to a Masters 4.0 graduate and doing just fine. So listen to your parents but respectfully let them know not everyone needs $150,000.00 to be happy. I only graduated high school and have had 32 successful years in bussiness with a nice income and retirement nest egg. Stay focused and before you know it you will achieve your goals!
P.S. His first year of community college was only English Grammar classes to learn how to read, write, and speak English correctly. Good luck.
 
Thanks. The thing I'm worried about is my academics. My high school is not a hard school. It's pretty laid back. There was not a lot of pushing to better yourself. Many of classmates don't even plan on going to college. Alot of students don't even want to learn and it took an effect on me in school and I coasted through and barely passed my classes. But my junior year and currently my senior year I got a girlfriend. So I am trying to push myself to be better and raised my grades a bit. I want to educate myself better but with all the people surrounding me, it's hard to push yourself to be better when no one even shows up to class.
 
Get a student loan, and put it on the stock market on a 2 year option on a monopoly company like Intel, Nvidia, Berkshire, or Visa. Cash out in 2 years, pay off the loan, and reuse the rest for the next 2 years of schooling.
 
Ben@3DHD said:
You will also get just as good an education from a 4 year State College vs a private collage. The only difference is prestige.
Click to expand...


I made a collage once when I was in kindergarten. I also traced my hand and made it into a Turkey!
 
asianisafish said:
Thanks. The thing I'm worried about is my academics. I want to educate myself better but with all the people surrounding me, it's hard to push yourself to be better when no one even shows up to class.
Click to expand...

Time for a social cleansing, your friends are not going to pay your future bills.
 
Please do not listen to people who tell you that a loan and Debt is OK. WORK YOUR BUTT off to do what ever you want to do and PAY for it. Debt is NOT good for you. I know Visa, Mastercard, and American Express advertise alot and make you think it is. You don't NEEEEEEEEEEEEED a car payment, you dont NEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEED student loans. You can buy a $1000 car in cash, save a typical car payment of $400 a month (I'm being VERY conservative here as ALOT of you know) for 10 months and step up to a $5k car. Save that payment again for another 10 months to buy a really nice $10k car (yeah I know 4000+5000 is only 9k but I'm sure if you came to my house looking at my 10k car and had 90 $100 bills Id sure consider it) then in HALF the time most people are into a car payment book your driving a PAID for $10k car. Just think where youd be in the 6-8 years that "normal" people pay for a car payment???????
 
I wish I knew where I read about this, but recently there was a study about how most people are better off starting to work or a business right after high school. College is not for everybody. While I did go to college, I actually started my business while I was at school, while at times it is rough I'm still glad that that's the route I took.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top